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Thursday, May 2, 2019

Viburnum, Guelder Rose, or Snowball Bush, by any other name it looks and smells as sweet, right? Although I don't think it gives off much of a fragrance. . . . That doesn't stop me from looking forward to its bloom all year!

There is nothing like flowers to change the whole attitude of a room, and I forget from time to time what an impact a lovely bouquet can make. I mean whole blogs are run on just armfuls of flowers! I don't know how it's done.

I go through phases where I indulge regularly on grocery store bunches, but even in the warmer months there is never a profusion of bloom straight from our garden around here. So each little petal is cherished and dresses up the ordinary in our rooms.

I love how long they last after cutting too.

Looking back over past posts it's amazing how rooms can evolve from year to year. But I like a little something new to look at when the season changes. Still enjoying my doggies in this room, so I have added a little still life behind them as a back drop.

No major changes right now, but I get a lot of satisfaction from my revolving collections, and never change things up much anyway. A lace tablecloth is the other different thing for this week in the dining room.

Always my dish collections too, of course.

But the new things get featured more, like this recent pansy covered pitcher on the shelf. I have been looking for just the right droopy purple flowers to put in it. And I like seeing my birdie platters in the spring too.

The floral Evian bottles get pulled out in the spring and summer. . . .

And this little white Johnson Brothers pitcher is new to me along with its little matching vanity vase. So fun to find things together like that!

Here is the vase holding more flowers....

That little squat ironstone pitcher is a new flea find too.

As is the vintage glass celery jar. Pressed glass is another one of my weaknesses. Remember when celery and carrots were always on the table right along with the bread and butter? Anyway there are so many pretty versions to be found around now, some of them turning purple.

So for a few days my dining room is going to feel a bit festive with the May Day blooms around. So happy for spring to be here!

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Hello friends! No sooner did I hit "publish" on my last post than I got the latest copy of Victoria Magazine in the mail with blue china on the cover! Thanks to all of you for sharing your love of blue with me!

Lately I have been tucking away in the nursery to get a little quiet time away from things. There is a good view of the lawn and fresh air from an open window on calm days, and for the time being I have taken down the ironing board and replaced it with a folding table.

I think a guest room like this is sometimes called a "spare" room. But it is an essential room for me in our little three bedroom house. I have mostly used it as a busy room, but with the makeshift desk and chair, I find I am spending more leisure time here.

One of my favorite things in here is a sweet print of a self portrait by Elisabeth Vigee LeBrun, a prominent French portrait painter of the late eighteenth century. If you Google her you may realize that you are already familiar with her paintings.

I didn't know this myself until after I brought the portrait home from a flea market and researched it. But Madame Le Brun has a remarkable history as an early female artist that I think might be an inspiration for all my young granddaughters!

There are still lots of other female influences found in here. . . .

You may recognize these pages by Edith Holden too. But it is from her lesser known book Nature Notes which was discovered AFTER the more prominent volume by her: The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady. Nature Notes was actually created the year before Country Diary, though it was only discovered and published a decade or so later. Both were received to wild, and lasting, acclaim.

Wonderful to peruse year round!

I also laid out this scrumptious old quilt that is only for show. It greatly increases the "happy" quotient in this room for me.

And maybe this beautiful new book also caught your eye! I am showing just a few random pages to show you below. But there are LOTS of wonderful photos included. You may like it too! Country Brocante Style, by Lucy Haywood.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a little down time with me today! Here we are at the weekend already again. I hope it is wonderful for you!

Monday, April 1, 2019

I've been in love with china for a long time now. It might have started once when I was on vacation in a small Utah town about forty years ago. There was a little china shop on the main street. It wasn't an antiques store, though there may have been a bit of furniture and a few accessories. It was mainly this dazzling wall of the prettiest china patterns you could ever imagine. I have never forgotten it. and I think I have wanted to have my own little china shop ever since.

It's funny how you gravitate toward things. Blue china is probably near the top of most people's list. But it's only lately that I have been possessed by it. So when I came across this box of English china at a seriously give away price I didn't give it a second thought. There is not a chip anywhere on the pieces of this very old pattern, so someone cherished this set a lot.

It was really the detail inside the cups that enchanted me, but all the details of the design are lovely.

I have collected stray pieces of beautiful blue china for the last few years with the intention of selling it, but the only pieces that have made it into the shop have been things I knew I would never use. Serving pieces and such. And now I have been inspired by the NYC cafe Maman that some of you no doubt know of. Their website link is here.

Maman serves all their coffee and pastries on beautiful pieces of vintage blue transfer ware china in mixed patterns. But even if you never get a chance to go there, their website andInstagram pages are wonderful to peruse. And I think my family and friends are going to be seeing lots of blue china on our table for a while too!

"The Thames" by Pountney & Co. Ltd.

I have still more blue patterns for mixing and matching tucked away. I would love to have my own cake and coffee shop!!! (Okay, maybe just go to one. LOL!)